Her friend had reached her by cell phone in Ottawa where she had been working at East Side Mario's.

"It's your sister," her friend told her. "There's been an accident."

Stephanie's father and a friend were already driving up from Courtright to pick her up and deliver the news in person.

"But because I called my mom she had to tell me over the phone," Stephanie recalls, as tears roll down her face, now 12 years later.

Instead of an accident, Stephanie came home to the brutal murder of her sister Jessica at the hands of a so-called 'golden boy' in the community.

The crime would rattle the sports world, but most importantly, an entire community where the word murder wasn't in its vocabulary.

He looked like trouble

Stephanie Nethery says she knew Jeremy Molitor was trouble the first time she had laid eyes on him.

"You just get this weird vibe from him that he's not just quite right and we all wanted her to stay away from him, that he's no good for her," she said. "She was so much better than that."

On paper, Jeremy was an accomplished athlete: he and his brother Steve had risen from their Sarnia gym to become prominent Canadian amateur boxers. Jeremy was a gold medalist at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and even landed on the mayor's honour list.

But Stephanie knew Jeremy – her sister's on-and-off boyfriend for three years – didn't live up to the image of a hometown hero.

Only months before Jessica's death, Jeremy was charged with assaulting and threatening the young waitress.

Stephanie remembers Jessica confiding in her about a time Jeremy had laid his hands on her. He grabbed her, spit in her face, and threatened to harm her and her mother.

Soon after Jessica was granted a restraining order on him.

With all this information rolling in her head, Stephanie, who was a 20-year-old Ottawa college student at the time, had been weighing whether she should stay in the nation's capital for the summer.

Her decision to stay in Ottawa haunted her for a while after Jessica's death.

"I had thought that maybe if I had come home – because I was done school in April and she was killed in early May – maybe I would have been with her."

When Stephanie did return home, Sarnia police had found the body of her 21-year-old sister inside a car parked in a laneway near the Kenwick building. She had been stabbed 58 times.

Jeremy Molitor – the so-called 'golden boy' – was charged with her murder.

Now he has applied for day parole and the Nethery family is calling on this community to help in their fight against it.

Moving forward

For years, Stephanie Nethery admitted her family – including then 17-year-old brother Jamie – wasn't sure how to move forward without Jessica.

She had filled the family home with laughter. She was also a staunch protector of all her relatives and friends.

Stephanie never gave a second thought to picking up her phone to call Jessica. They shared a special relationship: sisters and best friends born only one year and two weeks apart.

"When I first started going to the bars, if she saw a boy look at me or talk to me, she would go over there and say, 'That's my sister. Stay away from her or else,'" Stephanie said.

The life of every party, Jessica was coincidentally born two days before Christmas.

Once she died, Stephanie said the family couldn't bring themselves to celebrate the holiday for several years.

"She always loved that time of year because it was her birthday too, so we just pretended that Christmas didn't exist. It was easier that way."

Stephanie also kept away from newspapers during Jeremy's high-profile trial.

She couldn't stomach the attention given to his accomplishments when he had stolen her sister's life – one filled with the possibility of marriage and motherhood down the road – right from under her.

Molitor was convicted Dec. 22, 2004 of second-degree murder.

Nethery died of blood loss and shock after he stabbed her 58 times. By themselves, six of the wounds could have been fatal, according to a doctor who testified at the trial.

Molitor apologized to the family and the City of Sarnia during his sentencing.

He and his defence lawyer maintained that Molitor's involvement with drugs contributed to the tragedy.

To this day Stephanie said she does not believe his remorse is genuine.

At the time of her murder, Jessica had been moving on with her life, dating a new guy.

"(Jeremy) didn't want her to have her with anyone else," Stephanie said. "He didn't want her to move on."

Close to three years after Jessica's murder, Jeremy was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 14 years.

Yet, after stealing Jessica's life, Jeremy will have a second chance at his come this September.

Upcoming hearing

The Nethery family was recently notified Molitor will be up for day parole. He is currently incarcerated in British Columbia after several moves throughout the prison system.

Stephanie is horrified at the thought of Jeremy walking the streets again.

"If he gets put on parole, he will have set rules – just like he had set rules with the restraining order that he did not listen to at all."

Under the current Canadian justice system, Jeremy would have had to apply for day parole. Offenders serving life sentences like Jeremy are eligible to apply three years before they are eligible for full parole.

Before his hearing, board members will review a variety of reports, including a summary of his behaviour in custody, notes from the judge made during the trial and a release plan. That document will outline what Jeremy will be doing in the community, as well as which halfway house he will stay at and other conditions around his possible release.

At his hearing, two board members will question Jeremy and listen to in-person statements made by the victim's family.

Stephanie and her family plan to travel to British Columbia for the parole board hearing.

She has already crafted her victim impact statement describing how her sister's death still rattles her to the core.

"(Jessica) will never get married, never be a wife, never carry a child in her womb, never be a mother, never be an aunt to mine and our brother's children," her statement reads. "Our kids will only know their Aunt Jessica through stories and pictures."

Stephanie is calling on others in the community who knew Jeremy to share their stories of his behaviour with the Parole Board of Canada.

"Anyone who knew Jeremy or has stories – this is their chance or opportunity to finally tell their stories of what he was like," she said. "Was he ever aggressive towards them? Did he lie to you? Did he ever manipulate you? Did he ever treat you badly in any way?"

Parole board members will review these statements as part of Jeremy's case file before his hearing.

For Jessica – who protected her little sister – Stephanie is attempting to return the favour, serving as protector not only to her sister's memory but other women as well.

"I'm honouring my sister. She deserves full justice. He doesn't deserve a second chance. If she can't have a second chance, why the hell should he?"

• Individuals must identify themselves to the extent that the offender will understand how they relate to the case, in order to allow the offender the chance to defend himself against any allegations to the parole board.

• If an individual has concerns about putting their full name on the statement, they can simply use initials and/or a description as to how they know the offender or victim (i.e. former colleague, high school friend etc). All other identifying contact information such as addresses, email addresses, phone and fax numbers are removed from statements before they are forwarded to the offender.

• All statements are added to the Parole Board file and would be included in the materials reviewed by Board members in preparation for an offender’s parole hearing. When the Board prepares for a parole hearing, the Board members read the offender’s entire case file in order to be fully knowledgeable about the case and prepare the questions they will ask the offender during the hearing.